Lewis Hamilton F1 News: McLaren BOMBSHELL emerges as star officially exits Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton McLaren BOMBSHELL emerges as star officially exits Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes to drive for Ferrari from the 2025 season and beyond

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Saturday 14 December 2024 18:57 Updated: 22:50

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As Lewis Hamilton officially departs Mercedes, a huge claim has been made regarding the seven-time Formula 1 world champion and a potential return to McLaren.

Hamilton has raced with the Silver Arrows for 12 seasons but is set to embark on a new adventure for 2025 and beyond.

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The 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi last time out marked Hamilton's final race with Mercedes, bringing to an end the most successful partnership in the sport's history, with the British icon's efforts helping earn the team 14 titles across the drivers' and constructors' championships.

Despite that, the 39-year-old has just endured his toughest season in F1 yet, frequently out-qualified by team-mate George Russell and bemoaning the performance of his Mercedes machinery throughout the campaign.

With a historic eighth championship no doubt at the forefront of his mind, racing in red could be just the thing Hamilton needs with Mercedes lacking title-winning speed in recent seasons.

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With the Mercedes star having now officially bid an emotional farewell to the team he has called home for the majority of his career, a new chapter begins with the Scuderia.

However, according to one Mercedes insider, Hamilton's move away from the team could have looked very different.

Stephen Lord — Race Team Co-ordinator and one of Lewis' closest colleagues at the Silver Arrows — has revealed that he expected Hamilton to return to McLaren when he eventually left the team.

Lewis Hamilton made his F1 debut with McLaren in 2007

Speaking on an episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast in honour of the Brit, Lord was asked if he was surprised by the 39-year-old's Ferrari move, to which he replied: "Not at all,"

"I think that’s been his plan all along. A few years ago it came up in conversation.

"I actually thought he’d be tempted back to McLaren, but I was completely wrong.

"We had a conversation years ago and he always said that he felt most drivers had a desire to at some point in their career to drive a Ferrari."

Hamilton has a long history with McLaren having been nurtured by the team as a young driver and given his debut in the sport with them back in 2007.

The Brit duly repaid the faith McLaren had shown in him, scooping the first of his seven world championships with the team in 2008 — the Woking-based outfit's last drivers' championship success.

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes McLaren FIA George Russell